Mi and YU Joining Hands to Launch Household Automation Brand, Famili?

They might be bitter rivals in the phone business, but if our sources are correct, Xiaomi and YU Televentures are planning to start a joint venture aimed at delivering household automation devices. Rather appropriately, the products will be sold under a new brandname, called Famili.

They might be bitter rivals in the phone business, but if our sources are correct, Xiaomi and YU Televentures are planning to start a joint venture aimed at delivering household automation devices. Rather appropriately, the products will be sold under a new brandname, called Famili.

After slugging it out in the smartphone segment for more than a year, YU Televentures, Micromax’s sister brand, and Xiaomi, might be on the verge of starting a joint venture. As per our sources, the two brands will bring their own skill sets to the table and work out synergies for a new brand that we hear will be called Famili, and will be targeted at the household automation segment.

The rumour of the JV might surprise some (it did surprise us too) but on closer inspection, you can see similarities between the two companies as regards their household automation aspirations. Xiaomi has been releasing devices like rice cookers and water purifiers, while YU has been trying to bring out software solutions like Around YU and fitness bands. The Famili brand will allow both brands to pool their not inconsiderable resources and bring to the Indian market a whole new array of household automation products. Our sources say that the first array of products will include hair dyeing robots, palm freezers, roti (Indian bread) making machines and Post Rajma Gas Dispensers, as well as Dal/Pulse Purifiers.

Needless to say, these devices would also be designed to work with the smartphones of YU and Mi, which actually hints at some collaboration on the software side. Considering that both companies have been following very different UI strategies – Xiaomi prefers its MIUI interface while YU has dabbled with Cyanogen and Stock Android – this could be quite a challenge. And in a very unique spin, the devices will be sold both online or offline, but the delivery will be via drones, which are co-developed by Yu and Mi. This sales strategy has evidently been codenamed The Famili Way.

Yu + Mi = Famili.

Sounds neat, doesn’t it.

Stay tuned for more news about its childre..er…products.

(PS: In case, you haven’t already guessed it, this article was published on April 1.)

Shaktimaan is the resident superhero at Technology Personalized. Whenever there is a tech apocalypse, our hero (who is also known as Pandit Gangadhar Vidyadhar Mayadhar Omkarnath Shastri) will arrive in no time (earlier than Indian police in Bollywood movies) and make sure the world is safe.